


Slice of Lime

by tartanfics



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Ficlet, M/M, POV John Watson, Sherlock Holmes and Experiments, Sherlock uses experiments as excuses for other things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-15
Updated: 2013-10-15
Packaged: 2017-12-29 12:52:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1005682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tartanfics/pseuds/tartanfics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You've done stupider experiments."</p>
<p>Sherlock's in the living room cutting up limes. For science, obviously.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slice of Lime

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this art](http://tartanfics.tumblr.com/post/64143512671/the-mamishka-aserenia-dennis-wojtkiewicz) by Dennis Wojtkiewicz, which I ran across on tumblr when I was trying to get some words out.

John walks into the living room of 221B to find Sherlock sitting at the table by the windows, calmly slicing into a lime. He doesn't even have it on a cutting board, he's just slicing open a lime against the surface of the table. John watches as he cuts a paper thin slice out of the middle and holds it up to the light.

"What are you doing?"

Sherlock's head turns, slowly and deliberately like he's trying to look dramatic. (He probably is.) "Experiment."

"The... acidic properties of lime juice," John tries, hanging up his coat.

Sherlock smirks and turns back to his slice of lime. It's perfectly round and thin enough to be almost transparent. Sherlock's long fingers bend the slice carefully in half and slide it into his mouth. He wipes his fingers on his lower lip, licking away the lime juice, and looks back at John.

"The possibility of tasting cyanide after eating a lime," John suggests. He's a bit mesmerized by Sherlock's fingers, now crumpling a big white handkerchief to wipe off the last of the moisture. 

Sherlock visibly shoves the lime to the side of his mouth with his tongue, and says, "How would I test that without giving myself cyanide poisoning?"

"You've done stupider experiments." John leans on the back of his chair, still waiting to see what Sherlock's going to do. Sherlock's eyebrow quirks up.

"Come here," he says.

John does. When he gets closer, he sees that a pile of old case files has been blocking his view of the true extent of Sherlock's experiment. Behind the pile is an entire row of limes, all in slightly varying shades of green. "Taste test?"

"Something like that." Sherlock slices another piece of lime and holds it up for John. When John reaches to take it (reflex), he moves it out of reach. John raises his eyebrows. "Your hands aren't clean. They'll contaminate the flavour."

John's instinct is to argue the cleanliness of his hands, but that would be a losing battle. "You're going to put it in my mouth for me?"

"Obviously." 

So John, being the kind of idiot that bends down to let strange men put limes in his mouth, bends down and opens his mouth. And instead of putting the lime in John's mouth the ordinary way--shoving it in and letting John do the rest of the work--Sherlock reaches straight into John's mouth and lays the sliced lime flat on John's tongue. John can feel Sherlock's fingers against his teeth and his lower lip. 

This should be weirder than it is.

But on the way out of John's mouth, Sherlock drags his fingers over John's lip. That _must_ be deliberate. John doesn't bother to move the lime in his mouth before he asks, "Seduction?"

Sherlock’s mouth tilts up at the corner. His damp fingers trail along John’s jaw. John closes his mouth around the lime, breathing in the pervading scent of citrus, feeling smug. The experiment guessing game was bound to work eventually.

When Sherlock kisses John, their tongues taste just the same.


End file.
